It’s also a great place to see an interesting piece of Hollywood history. Yesterday, before the final episode of “The Office” aired, Rainn Wilson posted the above pic, with this caption:
“This is the original sign-in sheet for the first day of casting for The Office given to me by Allison Jones, our incredible casting agent. I was the very first person to audition for the series, 11/06/03. Notice all the amazing talent on the sheet, including the amazing #13! This is perhaps the greatest Office keepsake I have. So grateful for the best job I will ever have.”
I think it’s interesting as hell. And with one unfortunate exception, each actor who didn’t book the show went on to do just fine:
- Rainn Wilson, who was just coming off three years on “Six Feet Under”
- Adam Scott, now starring on “Parks and Recreation”
- Mary Lynn Rajskub, who at the time was already starring on “24”
- Hamish Linklater, who went on to star on “The New Adventures of Old Christine”
- Ben Falcone, who at the time was a regular on “Joey”
- Alan Tudyk, who now stars in “Suburgatory” and the movie 42
- Matt Besser, one of my favorites (he co-created UCB, where I trained in improv)
- Matt Price, who went on to star on “Men of a Certain Age”
- Jarrett Grode, from one of my favorite TV shows ever: “Undeclared”
- Ever Carradine, who also went on to star on “24”
- Jim Zulevic, who died suddenly of a heart attack at age 40, a year after “The Office” debuted
- Bill Chott, who starred for three years on “The Wizards of Waverly Place”
- Jenna Fischer, who booked the role of Pam
- Anne Dudek, who starred on “Mad Men,” “Big Love” and “House, MD”
